Sous Vide Cooking: Swordfish with Olive Gremolata

The Art and Ease of Sous Vide Cooking:

Swordfish with Olive Gremolata

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Easy

Sous vide temp: 130 degree F; Time: 30 minutes

Traditional cooking method also included

Swordfish with Olive Gremolata 

Sous vide is a French phrase that is translated as “under vacuum.” However, the defining feature of the method is not packaging or vacuum sealing; it is accurate temperature control. A heating element can warm a water bath to any low to moderate temperature you set, and keep it there for hours – or even days. For more information on the how’s and whys of sous vide, please see post: All About Sous Vide at http://cookingwithlarue.blogspot.com/2015/06/all-about-sous-vide.html.

Sous vide is especially useful for cooking seafood, for which the window of proper doneness is often vanishingly small when traditional methods are used. When you fry a piece of fish, the flesh is most succulent and tender within a very narrow temperature range. Because the cooking temperature of the pan is considerably hotter than the ideal core temperature of the fish, the edges will inevitably be far more cooked than the center when pan-fried. Traditional cooking with a range, oven, or grill uses high and fluctuating temperatures, so you must time the cooking exactly; there is little margin for error. With just a moment’s inattention, conventional cooking can quickly overshoot perfection. This is particularly problematic with fish…especially lean fish, which can dry out quickly. Sous vide cooking is ideal for such fish, in this case swordfish, but also albacore.

Swordfish was taboo for a while, but now many varieties, especially domestic ones, are sustainable. In particular, the North Atlantic swordfish have really rebounded thanks to a 1999 international plan that rebuilt this stock several years ahead of schedule.

All About Sous Vide

All About Sous Vide

 

Modern Sous Vide is inexpensive and simple!

In the next few weeks, I will begin posting some fabulous recipes that use the "sous vide" method of cooking! But fear not....I will start now with a short primer on the technique. Trust me, it is amazingly delicious and soooo easy!

Sous vide is a French term that is literally translated as “under vacuum” and refers to a technique that is associated with more experimental chefs. In fact it is now used by chefs in all kinds of restaurants and now by the home cook. It is not complicated; it involves slowly cooking food sealed in plastic bags immersed in water at precisely controlled, steady temperatures. The defining feature of the method is not packaging or vacuum sealing; it is accurate temperature control. A computer-controlled heater can warm a water bath to any low temperature you set, and keep it there for hours – or even days, if needed. People think that cooking sous vide is only about precision, but its convenience and cost efficiency lend it beautifully to making many dishes.

Spinach Salad Extraordinaire

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WE'RE BAAAAACK!!! Spinach Salad Extraordinaire

Serves 4 (appetizer); 2 (entrée)

Difficulty: Easy

 

Spinach Salad Extraordinaire

Have you been looking for the perfect spinach salad with a slightly warm dressing, oodles of bacon, a few onions and some sliced eggs?  I was.  Not the new age spinach salads with raspberry vinaigrette to honey-drenched walnuts better suited for an ice cream topping.  Nope, I was looking for the established, CLASSIC spinach salad. You know, the one you might find on a steakhouse menu.  Imagine a bright pile of baby spinach leaves scattered with slivers of red onion, thinly sliced white mushrooms, perfect rounds of hard-cooked eggs and then, the piece de resistance, tiny bits (or bigger bits) of bacon rendered in a pan to crispy, salty perfection. Yup, that one.